SENECA, Mo. — Class 3 second-ranked Seneca dominated from the start against short-handed Lamar to end the regular season with a 57-7 win over the Tigers on Friday in the Zimmer Marketing Game of the Week brought to you by JL Mobile Truck and Trailer Repair and Elements Construction Concepts.
With the win, Seneca completes the regular season with an unblemished 9-0 record. The Indians will have a bye in the first round of the Class 3 District 6 as the top seed.
Lamar, playing without several starters, closes the regular season with a 5-4 record. The Tigers slipped to the second seed in districts.
Lamar went three-and-out on the first series before Seneca muffed the punt with the Tigers recovering at the Indians’ 40-yard line.
Seneca’s defense didn’t waver, forcing Lamar into a turnover-on-downs at the Indians’ 33.
Seneca made the most of its first possession, marching down the field on nine plays to score a touchdown on a 5-yard run from quarterback Kaden Clouse with 4:31 left on the clock in the first quarter. Clouse ran in the 2-point try for an 8-0 advantage.
The Indians scored early in the second period after Tyrone Harris caught a backside screen and took it to the house for a 37-yard touchdown for a 15-0 lead with 11:01 left in the first half.
The momentum stayed in favor of Seneca as Lamar fumbled early in the next possession with the Indians coming away with the ball.
Seneca made the most of the extra possession when Brodie Probert hit on the deep ball after finding Blaze Graham for a 29-yard passing touchdown to push the lead to 22-0 early in the second period.
The Indians continued its first-half dominance with another score coming under the two-minute mark of the second quarter. Clouse rolled right and then reversed field for a 5-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-goal to make the score 29-0 with 1:46 to play in the first half.
Seneca found the end zone one more time in the first half when Clouse went to play action and found Hagen Ginger for an 11-yard touchdown with six seconds left to push the lead to 35-0.
With Seneca backed up to open the second half, Lamar got on the board with a pick-6 from Terren Williams to make the score 35-7 with 9:28 on the clock in the third.
Probert, filling in for Clouse after an injury, capped off a long Seneca drive with a 3-yard touchdown run to extend the lead to 42-7 with less than five minutes to play in the third stanza to jumpstart the running clock once again.
The Indians were looking at third-down-and-16 before Probert found Ginger all alone for a 35-yard touchdown connection, pushing the lead to 49-7 with less than 10 minutes to play in the game.
With the reserves in, Brant Laughlin scored from short with 3:41 left in the game.